Ana de Armas opens up on challenges in the film 'Blonde'

Ana de Armas opened up on playing and tackling challenges for the role of Norma Jean in Blonde.

Speaking at the event of Deadline's The Contenders Film in Los Angeles, "It was important to find the emotional truth in this character," adding, "One of the biggest themes in this movie is the private and public self. Norma Jean was completely unseen.

I wanted to capture the essence of that woman, to find the human underneath. It was a long process studying her and her films to understand what she was feeling at all times, always thinking that Norma, for the most part, never thought she could live up to Marilyn. What people thought of her was not at all what she felt like."

The film is based on Joyce Carol Oates' eponymous 2000 novel, which mixed fact and fiction to reimagine the life of Marilyn/Norma Jean. The film starred Adrien Brody, while the Deep Water star praised her Peaky Blinders actor's stellar performance.

"The film really represents unresolved childhood trauma. It's such a universal theme," said Brody, who played The Playwright, a character inspired by Monroe's first husband, Arthur Miller.

"Her beautiful portrayal [depicts the] fragility and loneliness and the how far away that is from all of our perception and what Hollywood perpetuates about stardom, success. … It was very important to try to convey some of the complexities in that relationship. The love that has to be there, the potential for hopefulness that is messing in so much of her life and that she is longing for."